Iran president says negotiating for release of kidnapped Japanese

TEHRAN, April 3 KYODO
Kyodo News
http://home.kyodo.co.jp/modules/fstStory/index.php?storyid=371677

Summary: A 23 year-old Japanese university student by the name of Satoshi Nakamura has been captured by a group of bandits while traveling in Iran. Japan and Iranian politicals have been negotiating in order to return Nakamura safely. So far, the group has been identified as a drug-smuggling group, and they operate in southeastern Iraq under the leadership of Doghai Shahbakhsh. According to investigations, the student and his captors are currently in a Pakistani town 450 kilometers off the border of Iran. The group demands that three members, all imprisoned for drug smuggling, be released in return for Satoshi. However, Iranian authorities are reluctant release two of their members due to their suspected shooting rampage, killing many police officers.

A) The AP World History theme that this article relates to is State-Building, Expansion, and Conflict, because the story involves revolts. The group of drug-smugglers are revolting against their government by holding the student captive. They also revolted against the police with a shooting rampage.

B) Due to the old Islamic conflict Sunni vs. Shi’ite, the areas of Iraq, Iran, and other surrounding areas have entered a somewhat volatile state due to the dangers of increased violence and bombings. This uproar of criminals may have been resulted in the formation of the group that captured this Japanese student.

C) The point of view of the article is a Japanese author. It is most likely a Japanese male/female that is an outsider to the situation.

D) The author’s point of view does affect the message in his/her article. Because they are Japanese, they probably feel like the Iranian government is not doing enough to rescue the student from the criminals. Words that indicate this sort of emotion are “negotiations have prolonged,” “reluctant,” “have said,” “has said,” “believed to be.”

E) In order to gain a full understanding of the article, it would be necessary to hear from an Iranian leader because they could depict the truthful actions that they are taking to rescue Satoshi Nakamaru. An Iranian politician involved with the negotiations may have a different take on the effort of their negotiations due to their being Iranian.

F) I think that the decision to release the captives or not is a very difficult one for the Iranians. They are responsible for this student taken captive, but they are also responsible for the safety and welfare of their own people. The Japanese side must recognize the struggle of the Iranians dealing with the smugglers.